Ashraf AboArafe
The High Representative Josep Borrell gave remarks after the EU-Egypt Association Council as follows:
I am very happy to welcome you, Minister [for Foreign Affairs of Egypt, Sameh] Shoukry here in Brussels. Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the European Union-Egypt Association Agreement.
I very much appreciate your views, your readiness to discuss frankly and openly, and our overall cooperation and friendship, dear Sameh.
We already exchanged views yesterday, at the Foreign Affairs Council, about the situation in Gaza.
We appreciate the crucial role played by Egypt in ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza, in providing healthcare to medical evacuees, in negotiating the humanitarian pause and the release of hostages in November. This was an important topic.
But today, [we are] focusing on our [EU-Egypt Association] Council – which is, first of all, about our bilateral relations and the highest political platform of our Association following a comprehensive discussion and review of our relations and cooperation. We have made significant progress, and we reviewed this progress over the last 20 years and I am glad that our cooperation has gained intensity and quality.
Two years ago, we endorsed new and ambitious Partnership Priorities which define the framework for our relations to move forward.
And today, we have signed the Framework Agreement allowing Egypt to negotiate its participation to our programmes – to EU programmes – open to third countries, like for example, Horizon Europe.
This is a big step. This is a step that will allow us to untap the enormous potential in our relations. And we want to intensify cooperation on a wide range of topics.
We are discussing a Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership, building upon the Association Agreement and the Partnership Priorities that we signed two years ago.
This new partnership will foster enhanced political dialogue, support economic and social development, accompany Egypt’s reform agenda – from the economy to human rights – and attract investments, which are crucial for a long-term stability.
Out of many fields, let me briefly mention the importance of our existing cooperation on counter-terrorism – both bilaterally and at the international level by our co-chairing the Global Counterterrorism Forum – on migration, but also on human rights, where we agreed to deepen our dialogue.
We also discussed the regional situation, where Egypt is facing many challenges in its immediate neighbourhood: from Sudan to Libya, in addition to the unfolding tragedy in Gaza.
Egypt has also been a victim of Russia’s war against Ukraine because food has been weaponized causing food crisis which have been harming directly people in Egypt.
That is why, supporting Egypt remains a priority for the European Union. Egypt has benefited from the alternative export routes established by the European Union, called Solidarity Lanes.
And also, I am happy to announce [that] the implementation of the two projects under the Food and Resilience Facility for Egypt – with €100 million – has already commenced.
We also have our European Investment Bank (EIB). We see the EIB stepping up its contribution to Egyptians’ food resilience with a loan of €150 million to invest in Egyptian agriculture.
But unhappily, there are other crises and challenges in the region, and Egypt is a crucial partner and a force for peace and stability in the whole Middle East.
Once again, I have to mention the conflict in Gaza. We aim to build a coalition supportive of the relaunch of the political perspectives for the Two-States solution – and Egypt is, and has to be, a key partner in this regard.
On the South, you mentioned yesterday and today the ongoing war in Sudan. We know that this poses a significant threat to regional stability and has implications on Egypt – direct implications on you. Because the conflict has already cost the lives [of] at least 12,000 innocent Sudanese people, but has also displaced 7 million civilians, many of them towards Egypt.
For us, the priority remains a cessation of hostilities. Just yesterday, we listed under our sanctions regime six companies involved in funding or supplying either of the two parties of the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
Egypt is in the forefront supporting the refugees, with a high number of Sudanese. We stand with you, and we will continue supporting Egypt in facing this challenge. Because, for us, our partnership is not only about cooperation, but also about solidarity, which is something more than cooperation.
And I am looking forward to this continued cooperation and solidarity.
Thank you.
Q&A
Q. Taking into consideration what you mentioned about the far-reaching impact of the war in Ukraine and Gaza on several economies, including Egypt. Could you provide more details about your vision for Egypt as a strategic partner? And how this vision has evolved in the European Union in the recent couple of years? My second question is related to the situation in Gaza. There is a shift in the European stance on the humanitarian and political situation in Gaza recently. My question to you is how can we collectively move towards implementing the Two-States solution in a practical way – as you mentioned yesterday in the press conference and your recent statements – rather than wasting time discussing reviving the peace process?
On building peace in the Middle East, Egypt is not a strategic partner – it is a strategic actor. It is an actor on itself. Nothing can be done without Egypt’s participation and agreement. It was an actor in building peace already in the past, by doing this with Israel after so many years of war. It has been [providing] a strong support of the people in Gaza – not only allowing the [humanitarian] support to go through, but providing support. I remember, Minister, the figures you provided me, explaining how important was the effort done by you. From our side, we are very proud of supporting but you are supporting directly from any point of view. And in any process that one could imagine in order to build peace, Egypt will have to play a strategic role – inside the Arab world and the Muslim world, and in relations to us. We started doing that with the discussion yesterday that it has to continue. I know that you are working also from your side and the Arab world, in order to present ideas that we are ready to share and to work [on] together. And when I am saying that we have to talk about implementing the Two-State solution instead of talking about a “peace process”, it because on peace, it is easy to agree, at least theoretically. Nobody will say that they do not want peace. Well, I heard this morning someone saying that, but normally people want peace. But what kind of peace? And I think that we have to go… because naming things is a way of progress. You have to name [it] in order to clearly identify your objective. And I think that the EU Member States – all of them – yesterday in our discussion, stated clearly that they consider the Two-States solution as the way to make peace.
So, let’s talk about the purpose, the objective, the target – and let’s put the political will after, and start talking systematically on the Two-States solution implementation. But we will continue working on that subject, and one thing is clear for me. You can say that in different ways, but one thing is clear: Israel cannot have the veto right to the self-determination of the Palestinian people. They do not have a veto right. If the United Nations recognises – as it has recognised many times – the self-determination right of the Palestinian people, nobody can veto it.
Q. After the discussion you had yesterday with the Arab partners, did you get positive reactions from the Arab countries? I think it is obvious, but could we say today that there is almost a common European Union-Arab countries’ [position] on the issue? And what will be the follow-up of the discussions you had yesterday? Could we imagine the organisation of the Preparatory Peace Conference – that you suggested – that the European Union and the Arab countries can organise, or some of the Arab countries, let’s say in a few months’ time? Could we speak about this summer [that] could be the deadline?
I share your feelings and I share your diagnosis, Minister. When we talk about non forced displacement of persons, well, this person has already been forced to be displaced under the bomb[ing] and the destruction of their houses. These people have already been forced to be displaced. They are being massed in the south of Gaza – and as the Minister said – putting pressure in the border with Egypt. And yes, certainly we are against these people being forced to be displaced to the other side of the border but, if the situation continues, and they have to choose between dying or living. This is the dramatic choice that this people will have to face. So, we have to face not the consequences but the causes, and why it is happening. The diagnosis of the Minister has been very clear. I understand that you want to know more about what we are going to do. Look, yesterday it was a first step of a long travel, but you cannot pretend that in 24 hours you could look for a solution to some problem that has been pending for 30 years. But one thing was clear for us: I think that we have to continue. We have to continue talking. Yesterday it was a good momentum in the discussions between the Arab world and the European people – certainly not finished. But yesterday, we had the opportunity to listen to the Israeli [Foreign] Minister [Israel Katz], to the Palestinian [Foreign] Minister [Riyad Al-Maliki], to the diplomatic envoys of the Arab world. We have to continue, and I think that we committed to continue, looking for the ways to look for the solution to be implementable.
Q. Egypt is hosting more than 9 million refugees. Don’t you think that Egypt deserves much more financial aid, especially considering what Egypt is doing is protecting Europe from much more refugees?
Egypt deserves support, certainly. As Commissioner [for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Olivér] Várhelyi has said, Egypt is an island of stability in the middle of a full storm. And certainly, when Egypt is receiving migrants or people looking for protection – because sometimes, they do not deserve to be called “migrants” but exiled people – they are providing support to the humankind. And from this point of view, it is why the European Commission – President [Ursula] von der Leyen announced its proposal of increasing our cooperation with Egypt, based on common interests, including migration.
Link to the video:
https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-251804
Thanks,
